without researching continuously
and dynamically the concept of progress we are in great danger of
causing harm when we mean to help others develop and progress.

Apparently allpowerful victorious Western society, is overloaded
with crisis points which need resolution and yet it has for long
exported flawed or unworkable models clothing them in hyper-sell
wrappings presenting them as the solve-all secret of peace, happiness
and fulfillment. One of the results is mounting delayed disillusionment.

Civilisation must be tied to the art of surviving and thriving
without violence to self, to others , to nature or to the environment.

Are we civilised?

Civilisation and progress? What
does that mean?

What is the yardstick for progress ?

Is
it appropriate to export the Euro-american conceptual matrix as panacea
for all problems and as the one and only yardstick for civilisation and
progress?

The temptation for the powerful, the materially rich
and the victorious to without further thought, assume themselves as the
automatic and only reference point in terms of concepts of civilisation
and models for progress, is a very great temptation indeed. In so doing
they are not only imposing harm to others whose concepts, needs, models
and potentials for growth, development and non-violent survival are
different, but they also harm themselves in denying the potential
contributions that these others, who are ignored and marginalised, can
make to the resolution of many real crises within the winning and
powerful camp.

Many people and agencies defeat pluralism and
development while, perhaps sincerely, believing that they are working
and supporting both.

It is of interest to trace some of the
concepts of civilisation and of being civilised and of civilised
behaviour exported by us as these are experienced from various parts of
of the world, other than us, during the past decades.

Examples
of a typical post second world war onslaught on the consciousness and
the culture of a country like Egypt, inform society about what is
progress thus:

Breast feeding your children is uncivilised and
civilisation and beauty is in feeding them with dried milk powder !

Manual work is a sign of backwardness

Bread eating is a
sign of backwardness so is bread baking at home

The whiter the
bread, the whiter the sugar and the purer the salt the more civilised
the nation

Using refuse, agricultural waste or dung as fuel is a
sign of backwardness, what is more it is disgusting

Cigarette
smoking for men amplifies and completes their manhood, for women proves
their independence and emanicipation

More exported signs of
backwardness and explicit or implicit indicators of progress,
civilisation and culture according to effectively exported values
supported by the unstoppable onslaught of mass media open our eyes to
how self supporting, ecologically balanced communities were permanently
disrupted:

Intimate relations with animals: a sign of
backwardness unless of course these are pets to be pampered and cared
for and spoilt with lavish expenditure and consumption

the
extended family is a sign of backwardness

Free relation with the
human body in nature without guilt and without division including
walking barefoot even when it is climactically and environmentally
natural to do so, is demeaning, uncivilised and backward

Communality is backward and uncivilised while the nuclear family
and insularity is.

The ecologically balanced self dependent
non-consumerist way of life of the farmer with his extended family and
intimate interactive relations with his body with the environment, with
nature, with plant, river and animals is considered as a sign of
backwardness, that must be destroyed and replaced with Western insular
and consumerist models.

Using river transport and depending on
natural forces and or/energies for propulsion is slow. inefficient,
unreliable and is a sure sign of backwardness

How much you buy
and consume in manufactured goods indicates how civilised and advanced
you are

Advancement in agriculture is to be measured by :

how mechanised it is, how much artificial chemical fertiliser
and pesticides you use. In general greater use and consumption of the
manufactured, the artificial, the chemical, the mechanical and lesser
use of the natural eco-cycle harmonious, is an indicator of civilisation
and progress.

The electrically driven or fossil fuel driven was
sold via hard-sell, to nations and cultures that respected nature,
animals and human endeavour. They were reconditioned to believe this is
far more advanced and civilised than the natural, the manual and the
man/animal/nature interactive.

The concept of appropriate
technology was neglected in supposedly development interventions
overwhelming balanced ways of life, These interventions were practiced
without the slightest regard for life or long term well-being of
communities. Wizardries were sold that soon were unmanageable and
unmaintainable and unsustainable. Dependencies were created, ancient
skills and know-how supplanted while the recipients were finally left
more impoverished and more helpless than before they received this
development aid they were supposed to be so lucky to receive. The donors
wonder about the ingratitude of the recipients, while little attention
is devoted to appropriate and inappropriate interventions because we see
everything through our own eyes which we are certain are absolutely
right. Echos of the techniques of the sellers of addictive hard drugs.

The final straw comes with the exported value and hardware of
modern progress weaponry as: Fighting with clubs and spears and bare
hands is seen as a sure sign of backwardness and primitiveness and
missing out on progress. We have helped create the paradox that the most
underdeveloped countries and peoples are armed with the most deadly and
sophisticated weaponry exported by the advanced ,civilised and leader
Countries and have expectedly evolved ruthless military
dictatorships as they had not yet evolved into the maturity of
excluding weapons from socio-political process.

The power and
weight of nations in the international arena and on the negotiating
table is still measured in terms of material wealth and military
strength, hence the devastating weight of the interests of the powerful
in international dialogue or more aptly international non-dialogue.

Inspite of protestations to the contrary, Justice, Fairness,
Equity, play a very limited role in the International dynamics shaping
the gobal village into which we are all sucked as prime movers or as
helpless and disempowered victims.

What is meant by
civilisation and being civilised ? What will a bird?s eye view of
the twentieth century tell about us being civilised or not ?

The
meaning behind such slogans as development, progress, wealth, success,
and power, must always be questioned and challenged and questioned
again. Alternatives need to be explored and respected for all our sakes,
for our safety and well-being.

Still the basic problems of
violence and of life and death and of happiness and meaning remain
unanswered. The unresolved catastrophy of three World Wars, (1914-1918,
1939-1945, 1945-1991) with hundreds of milions of innocent victims,
represents yet another of the undying question marks over our
civilisation. These questions need to be answered and to be answered
anew. They of course need to be asked and asked anew. What is
civilisation and progress? Are we civilised?

What is
civilisation and progress ? the state of being civilised ? What is
that ?

Eating with a fork and knife ? Not making a sound
while you chew your food? Wearing western clothes ?

Wearing shoes ? Wearing European clothes?

Speaking a European language ?

Industry as opposed to
agriculture or vice versa ?

Mamoth economic forces and
production centres, trans-national and multi-national, as opposed to the
small self sufficient communities with the small producer, financier. Is
small beautiful or backward?

Civilisation in
the end must be tied to the ability to thrive and flourish without
violence to self, to others, to nature or to the environment. Using that
guideline we must have spiralled somehow into one of the least civilised
phases of human social evolution. Many questions need to be asked. Many
questions need to be answered, and then questions need to be asked anew.

A little pertinent poem: (from volume II of collected poems)

and then i shall break and that which is not love shall be
love to me and kindness shall be love and tolerance shall be
love and charity shall be love and success shall be love and
riches shall be love

i shall break and that which is untrue i
shall think it true

i shall make it true ...to rest...

and my thirst shall be so terrifying that that which is not
water i shall think it water

...and rest...

and
i shall be not the plant that thirsted for water not the flower
that yearned for love but i shall be that that i thought ...to
rest...

i shall be that that i think ..and rest..

and i shall drown myself in imaginary water synthetic water
and i shall drown myself in imaginary love synthetic love
love that i think it love water that i think it water ...to
rest.. and i shall make worlds of lies

synthetic worlds
imitation worlds substitute worlds

and i shall build
them higher ...and higher ..and higher

and i shall make them
stronger ..and stronger ..and stronger

..and i shall raise this
world of lies above all things

for not to know the horror of my
thirst

..and i shall protect it preserve it cherish it
above all things

for not to know the horror of my thirst..

and i shall drown myself in this mountain of synthetic worlds

for to forget my thirst deeper deeper deeper deeper
higher higher higher higher more more more more more more
further further further further greater greater greater greater
faster faster faster faster faster more more more more more more